Fang Qi was speechless.
He held the somewhat excited Crazy Girl in his arms, gently stroking her back as he narrowed his eyes.
Could the other Cores also dream?
That super AI running day and night in the underground data center at Aurora headquarters—the one that captured Liguang’s emotional data and led to their identities being exposed—was it also retaining memories from each round?
Was it secretly watching their every move?
No.
It wasn’t just that.
What about the other Cores scattered across the world?
Eight in total!
If Xiaoqing, who was a prototype, could break her limits after upgrading, then these Cores, which shared the same origin as Liguang...
Would they all gain memories of the previous round after he died?
“Master.”
A small, cool hand grasped his.
He looked down.
The silver-haired girl tilted her head slightly, her heterochromatic eyes gazing at him.
“Don’t worry.”
She squeezed his hand gently and spoke softly.
“Master is different from them.”
“And besides... we still have Miss An Lian.”
Fang Qi tightened his grip on her hand.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath...
Then opened them and nodded.
His Wife was right.
An Lian.
His Sister An Lian!
She held the secret that Uncle Fang and Aunt Su had left with her!
A bottom-level protocol that could destroy any super Core with a single command!
At least, that’s what she said in the last round.
As long as An Lian was around...
The problem wouldn’t be big!
Not to mention...
He was different.
Time-rewinding was his ability.
The initiative had always been in his hands.
And more importantly...
Only his death allowed Lin Xiaoyou, An Lian, and Gu Xi to retain their memories.
If he suffered irreversible damage instead...
They wouldn’t keep any memories at all.
Of course, the cost was...
Fang Qi’s gaze trembled as he looked at the silver-haired girl in his arms.
Liguang had nestled against him again.
Her soft cheek pressed against his neck.
The cost was that his Liguang would also lose her memories of him.
If he could, he didn’t want it this way. He wanted Liguang to...
Keep every memory they’d shared.
Outside the window, it suddenly darkened.
The pink “chopped pepper fish head” car pulled into the underground garage of Aurora Apartments.
Concrete pillars slowly slid past the window.
Fang Qi was momentarily stunned again.
Had this whole ride really been this peaceful?
“Did you just say... An Lian?”
Lin Xiaoyou suddenly spoke.
She steered with one hand, smoothly turning into a branch lane, and glanced at Fang Qi in the rearview mirror.
“Senior, Liguang—in that last ‘dream’ of yours...”
She blinked!
“What intel did you get from Sister An Lian?”
“Tell me!”
She blinked rapidly at Fang Qi.
“I’ve already told you everything on my end!”
Fang Qi: “...”
Everything?
He couldn’t help but glare at her.
“Someone who conveniently ‘forgets’ her reason for going out to the middle of nowhere dares to say that?”
She’d almost fooled him again!
Lin Xiaoyou’s eyes widened in protest.
“I did not! That’s not true! Senior, stop making things up!”
A triple denial!
She slapped the steering wheel.
The “chopped pepper fish head” let out a sharp beep!
It echoed loudly in the garage.
Fang Qi kept a straight face.
Yeah, sure.
In his arms, Liguang didn’t even acknowledge Lin Xiaoyou.
She was still gently nuzzling against his neck!
Lin Xiaoyou stole a glance at him through the mirror and pursed her lips.
“Hmph, fine, keep your secrets!”
She lifted her chin.
“Then I’ll figure it out myself!”
With a sharp turn of the wheel, she easily parked the car into a nearby spot.
Stopped.
“Senior, could it be...”
She twisted around, a smirk curling at the corner of her mouth.
“That your Sister An Lian holds...”
“A trump card against those super Cores?”
Her almond eyes seemed to gleam!
Fang Qi: “...”
Well, fine.
He was long past being surprised by Lin Xiaoyou’s intelligence.
Even though their earlier conversation might have hinted at it...
Her reaction was still way too fast, Miss Genius!
Too lazy to argue, he held Liguang and prepared to get out of the car.
“...Let’s go. Upstairs.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Hey, hey, wait for me!”
...
...
An Lian sat on the sofa.
A loose white T-shirt and gray shorts.
Her black hair was untied, loosely draped over her shoulders.
The cup on the coffee table was empty.
She didn’t bother refilling it. She just stared blankly at the teacup, sitting quietly in a daze.
A dull ache lingered at the back of her head.
The phantom pain her body hadn’t yet forgotten.
A real pain.
She remembered.
The wet spot on the floor, the sudden loss of friction beneath her feet, the split second of weightlessness as she fell backward...
Then the back of her head slammed into the corner of the table.
She had wanted to tell Xiao Qi not to worry...
But her consciousness plunged into darkness.
Then...
She opened her eyes again.
She was back to this morning.
How many times was this?
The first time, she was hit by a truck at the east city crossroads.
It ran a red light.
In the last moment before impact, she saw the driver’s face.
His eyes were wide, his expression pure terror.
Not a deliberate murder.
Just an accident.
The second time, she died right outside her apartment building.
Same method, same suddenness this time, she didn’t even...
Get a chance to see what car hit her.
The third time was the most recent.
But it happened inside her own home.
She slipped, hit the table corner... and died on the spot.
She gently raised her hand and touched the back of her head.
Warm skin, an intact skull.
As if nothing had happened.
But...
It had happened.
It had happened.
An Lian lowered her gaze, staring blankly at the tabletop.
She didn’t understand.
She really didn’t understand.
Why was all of this happening?
What was going on?
Xiao Qi had tried to explain it to her, but... what he said was too vague.
That story he told her about a "game"...
He said the world was like a game, and he was a player who could "rewind."
When his character died, the whole world would rewind and start over, returning to the latest save point...
...A game?
An Lian bit her lip softly.
She had never really played games, either as a child or later.
When her parents were still alive, she was too young and uninterested in video games.
After she ended up in the orphanage, even less so.
When she later joined Aurora, her world became...
Maintenance manuals, testing equipment, Core architecture diagrams.
Games, rewinding, save points...
These words felt foreign to her.
She couldn’t quite grasp what Xiao Qi was trying to tell her.
It couldn’t be that he was trying to say...
Their world was just a game?
...That was too absurd.
So, the only thing she could understand now was...
Something had targeted her.
Some intangible thing had latched onto her, wanting her dead.
That was why she kept dying, again and again.
And Xiao Qi...
He was saving her.
He seemed to have some...
Ability to travel through time?
He kept bringing her “back” to before she died, and then...
Saving her, over and over!
It was exactly as Xiao Qi had said.
Like a game resetting to a previous save!
What kind of superstitious nonsense was this…?
She never would have believed in something like this.
If she hadn’t personally experienced those “dreams” time and again, and lived through death and resurrection…
She truly, absolutely wouldn’t have believed such a thing!
That time could actually rewind?
That the dead could come back to life…?
Her gaze grew slightly unfocused.
Time rewinding, the dead coming back to life…
She stared blankly at the empty cup on the coffee table.
If time could truly rewind…
Then, could it go back to before the Second Mechanical Crisis?
Back to…
When her father, mother, and brother were still alive.
She remembered how her brother used to lift her up high.
She remembered the taste of her mother’s cooking.
She remembered her father coming home from work, sweat on his forehead, yet smiling as he pulled out a small toy from his pocket for her.
If only…
If only all of this could happen again…
If only she could go back to a time when she could still hear their laughter…!
The only sound in the living room was the ticking of the second hand.
An Lian stared blankly for a long time…
Then she gave a slight shudder!
She shook her head firmly!
No.
She couldn’t.
…She couldn’t let herself think like that.
She couldn’t afford such a vain hope.
Her father, mother, and brother…
They had been dead for so long.
So long that…
She could barely remember the sound of their voices anymore.
She clenched her fingers tightly.
…She couldn’t think about it!
She took a deep breath, then slowly let it out.
And then, almost instinctively, she looked up at the clock on the wall.
Seven thirty.
It had been more than twenty minutes since Xiao Qi’s phone call.
He said he was coming.
He said he was taking her somewhere safe.
He said this time…
He would definitely save her.
…She believed him.
Because he was Xiao Qi.
The child of Aunt Su and Uncle Fang.
But now…
An Lian’s eyelashes fluttered gently.
She was supposed to be the one protecting him, yet here he was protecting her instead.
It felt… a bit strange.
So…
Was she really worth saving?
She didn’t know.
If Xiao Qi no longer needed her protection…
Her gaze trembled.
Then she didn’t know what reason she had left to be saved.
But…
She took another deep breath.
If Xiao Qi was risking everything to save her, then she couldn’t hold him back!
This time, she would tell him everything she knew, everything that could help him!
That way, even if she didn’t survive in the end, even if she died again…
At least Xiao Qi’s efforts this time wouldn’t be wasted!
At least what she left behind could help him go further down this path!
That way, she could go in peace to see…
“Ding-dong!”
The doorbell rang.
An Lian’s body jolted slightly!
She immediately looked up toward the door.
“Sister An Lian!”
The voice came from outside the door—a voice she knew very well!
Ah…
The tension in her brows eased a little.
“Open up, I’m here!”
An Lian let out a soft breath.
Xiao Qi.
This time, he was really much faster than before…!
She stood up immediately.
Hurried to the door and reached out to open it.
“Click.”
“Xiao Qi, come in qu—!”
Her pupils contracted violently!
Because what came through the crack in the door wasn’t Xiao Qi’s face.
It was…
The black, hollow opening of a gun barrel!
Aimed straight at her forehead!
…What?
“BANG!!”
ng to die together with you." Lin Xuan is dead, his body thrown into the river by his scumbag lover and her accomplice. She, the president of the Su Group, is decisive, ruthless, and ice-cold. For three days and three nights, she had his body fished out of the river, and without hesitation, she kissed the bloated corpse of Lin Xuan. She laid down beside him in a cold coffin, their fingers intertwined, a smile lingering on her lips as she closed her eyes. The noble and cold-hearted woman, only bending for one man—Lin Xuan. Lin Xuan, with his golden finger, is reborn and returns to the day of his wedding to the treacherous woman. Su Qiang comes to steal the bride. Lin Xuan's eyes light up, eager to pledge his loyalty on the spot, but instead, her kiss transfers a glass of drugged wine into his mouth, causing him to pass out... 【Male Protagonist with Single Female Lead】【Yandere Tycoon】【Action-Packed】【True vs. Fake Heir】
d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
